Ear Plugs....

[virgin-burner 1]

whenever i was in the army, i would always wear foam-plugs, plus the mufflers.. fired 15'000 rounds while in the army alone, so that's kind of a lot of shooting practice.. combine it with several years of many weekends spent in clubs.. mhm, i still score pretty good in those hearing-tests.

loosing your ability to hear, or getting a tinitus is pretty bad. while i was exposed to a lot of noise, some rather simple precautions to avoid exposure too much isnt that much of a hassle isnt really that stressful.

but as long as i'm a funjumper, i dont think that wearing ear-plugs during freefall is that much of an issue (if you've been sorta careful).. i do like to keep my mindwarp up during the ride to altitude, as long as i'm not talking to someone or the day is superhot..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[PiLFy 0]

Decibels are decibels... I'm glad you protected your hearing during your army days. As you said yourself. It really wasn't that hard to do. Why would you stop now? The OP has posted what happened to him after years of jumping. What, you just want to lose a little of your hearing?

[faulknerwn 38]

Are the custom plugs better about pressurization? I wear the foam ones for the plane ride, but every time I've tried to freefall with them it was just like jumping with a bad cold - i.e. excruciatingly painful... I do have small ears tho..

[Hellis 0]

Could it be some reverse placebo effect?
When you jump without earplugs you yawn, move the mouth, all those little trick to equalize the pressure without thinking of it, but when you have the earplugs you concentrate on the fact that you have them in and forget to use the tricks?

I very rearly jump without earplugs, but even if i dont equalize on the way down its not that bad.
If i dont equalize i do it when under canopy

[Skyper 0]

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If i dont equalize i do it when under canopy

do you put your ear plugs out before you equalize?

[Hellis 0]

No, if i understand how the body works correct the equalization happens inside your head, not where the earplug is.
So taking them out will not help equalize.

Most of the times i can do it without using my hands, but sometimes i have to pinch my nose and blow.

[virgin-burner 1]

i think most custom ones filter certain frequencies or even from a certain noise-level on. dont know about the pressurization..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[weekender 0]

i wear the foam ones on the way up and take them out right before i jump. I've had my ears not clear without them. also, had some injuries scuba diving in the past. because of this i am to chicken to wear them on the jump.

I wish someone would make a molded one that would vent while your falling. I'd pay up for them. If there out there and i missed them i'd love to see a link. something specifically tested by jumpers. ive had people tell me they would be fine but also didnt know if anyone has actually jumped with them.

"The point is, I'm weird, but I never felt weird."
John Frusciante

[Skyper 0]

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No, if i understand how the body works correct the equalization happens inside your head, not where the earplug is.
So taking them out will not help equalize.

Most of the times i can do it without using my hands, but sometimes i have to pinch my nose and blow.

thanks for the explanation. I do it when I'm on the ground, but than it's probably too late.

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i think most custom ones filter certain frequencies or even from a certain noise-level on. dont know about the pressurization..

I use ear plugs whereby four different sizes are available in one package, you pick the right size and you put the "filter" in that one and you can use it - other sizes you can just throw away.

The filter is made to damp the frequences of "heavy noise" whatever it might be . 33dB is stated on the package. And these are the strongest ones that I could find here. The next option I consider now is ordering the custom ones but for now these that I have make me feel comfortable during the flight and free fall. And custom made are far more expensive.

I have problems with equalization though, but IMHO there is no connection between ear plugs and equilization. Equilization problems are more related with the congested eustachian tube - due to cold.

[virgin-burner 1]

your inner ear is having a(n inner) barrier, which are those euchanyian tubes, if you put ear-plugs in, you create an outer barrier. doesnt matter if your inner or outer ear is blocked, you'll end up in pain anyway. your eardrum doesnt care much if its bend in- or outwards due to unequal pressurization..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[Skyper 0]

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your inner ear is having a(n inner) barrier, which are those euchanyian tubes, if you put ear-plugs in, you create an outer barrier. doesnt matter if your inner or outer ear is blocked, you'll end up in pain anyway. your eardrum doesnt care much if its bend in- or outwards due to unequal pressurization..

hmm, I really cannot jump without ear plugs. I did it without only on my SL jumps and my first 12K jump. After that I wear the plugs on every jump because I cannot withstand that noise

I thought that "there's always a bit of space" between the plugs and the ear, so equalization shouldn't be a problem. hmm. I'm puzzeld now after your comment.

[virgin-burner 1]

if your earplugs let some air through, to allow for pressurization, it's ok i suppose. but if they're airtight.. a certain amount of air in an enclosed space will expand compress, due to it's outer pressure. think a balloon in water.

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[Skyper 0]

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if your earplugs let some air through, to allow for pressurization, it's ok i suppose. but if they're airtight.. a certain amount of air in an enclosed space will expand compress, due to it's outer pressure. think a balloon in water.

Yes, I understand what you mean and it makes sense. In fact ear plugs damp the noise good they should not allow air to come in and if there's no air... it cannot decompress. hmm. I talked to ear specialist and he told me about eustachian tube. But we did not discuss anything about ear plugs. hmm.

[Divalent 106]

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... I wish someone would make a molded one that would vent while your falling. I'd pay up for them. If there out there and i missed them i'd love to see a link. something specifically tested by jumpers. ive had people tell me they would be fine but also didnt know if anyone has actually jumped with them.

Up above, Hellis linked to this style (which he says he swears by), which seems like it has a narrow tube down the middle that would allow pressure equalization. (it also has a plug that the user could insert for better noise suppression, although that would seem to block the central tube.)

http://www.surefire.com/EP3-Sonic-Defenders

Maybe Hellis can confirm that the central tube does allow air to pass all the way through.

[Inspired 0]

Having never worn earplugs in freefall myself, I'm curious to know how they affect your ability to hear your audible alarms. I sometimes have trouble hearing them now. Will earplugs make it easier or more difficult?

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Hey Scooter... we had talked about your theropy last summer, If you're willing to share, I'm very curious how that's going??

For those that have not seen this, I'm attaching a copy of an article from Parachutist on Tinitus. I'm not a writer so please excuse the spelling and gramer errors...

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[Hellis 0]

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... I wish someone would make a molded one that would vent while your falling. I'd pay up for them. If there out there and i missed them i'd love to see a link. something specifically tested by jumpers. ive had people tell me they would be fine but also didnt know if anyone has actually jumped with them.

Up above, Hellis linked to this style (which he says he swears by), which seems like it has a narrow tube down the middle that would allow pressure equalization. (it also has a plug that the user could insert for better noise suppression, although that would seem to block the central tube.)

http://www.surefire.com/EP3-Sonic-Defenders

Maybe Hellis can confirm that the central tube does allow air to pass all the way through.

I was just about to type a message that they do not let air trough, but then that would be lazy not trying when they were right behind me.

And you know what, they do let air trough! I did not know that.
I also noticed it has three "settings".

You can pull out the whole thing (the red part and the plug on the left picture), i dont think you are supposed to do that but it just happend. Whoopsy moment.
The air passes trough very easily, not sure about the hearing protection in this state.

The "thing" in but the plug out (as you see them on the picture).
They let air trough but its harder to blow it trough.

The plug in the center channel, maximum hearing protection.
I dont know if they let air trough, if they do its not enough that you notice it. I would think they are supposed to be completly seald in this setting, but im not sure.
This is the setting i always use, and i have never had any problems with it.

The equalizationfeeling i get when using these are the same as if i was on a pressurised airplane while decending.
I dont know about the feeling when i skydive without earplugs as it never happens.
But pressurised airplanes usually pressurise the cabin to about the same altitude as you would jump from.
So if the feeling is the same with skydive+earplugs as pressurised airplane i guess the earplugs does not make any difference with the equalization.

[Hellis 0]

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Having never worn earplugs in freefall myself, I'm curious to know how they affect your ability to hear your audible alarms. I sometimes have trouble hearing them now. Will earplugs make it easier or more difficult?

No problems for me.
Most audibles have two settings for volume, have you tried the max volume?

[DaVincisEnvy 0]

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Fullface helmet do not provide sufficient protection at least not in the range up to 1,5 kHz. (Can be seen at page 28 of this PDF)

Thanks for the link! I appreciate the quantitative info (and a good reason to practice my German -- geez, I'm rusty...). I think I'll look into getting some custom earplugs made, since I can't find generic ones that fit my tiny ear canals.

Here's a nice video about how clearing one's ears works: http://video.about.com/pediatrics/Ear-Pressure.htm

A thought experiment: If you can clear your ears while wearing earplugs on the ride to altitude, doesn't that demonstrate that equalizing the pressure in your ears is possible while wearing earplugs? The only difference between the pressure change on the ride to altitude and in freefall is the rate of change.

For those who wear earplugs in the plane, can you clear your ears by yawning, swallowing, etc (i.e. by not using your hands to plug your nose)? Is it more difficult with the earplugs in than without them?

If it's no more difficult to equalize pressure with the earplugs than without on the ride to altitude, shouldn't the same be true in freefall? If it is more difficult with ear plugs in, that would indicate probable problems in freefall.

[stimpie 0]

maybe these ones will help... seems like divers can use them also, so no equalisation problems....

http://www.proplugs.com/

[iopenhi 0]

This has also been discussed at length here and here


edited for grammar, spelling or something...

You can't make chicken salad out of chicken manure.

[Skyper 0]

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Having never worn earplugs in freefall myself, I'm curious to know how they affect your ability to hear your audible alarms. I sometimes have trouble hearing them now. Will earplugs make it easier or more difficult?

No problems for me.
Most audibles have two settings for volume, have you tried the max volume?

That's probably because the frequency of the sound of the dyter is different from te sounds blocked by the ear plugs.

I have very narrow ear channel as well and there are also standard ear plugs on the marktet for that size as well!

Equialization problems for parachutists do not arrise during climbing on the altitude, but during the fall. That's because the preasure is than increasing. The same is true for scuba-divers but they get the problem imediately... because the preasure is rising from the moment they enter the water.

edit: I just checked my ear plugs. They do not let any air to pass through the filter...

[scooterskydives 0]

An ENT has actually been doing some testing at a local dropzone and its proven that freefall noise is more damaging than airplane noise. She hopes to be sharing her research in parachutist when she finishes it. Im not saying airplanes are not bad... also depends on airplane type I spent several years jumping from a 1952 Beaver... very loud, long ride.

If God wanted man to stay on the ground.
He would of put roots on them instead of feet.
loving life
GO-N-UP

[pchapman 278]

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Are the custom plugs better about pressurization? .

The German document in this thread that has a name like "4 - Gehoerschutz fuer Fallschirmsportler" does mention that the custom earplugs do have a channel to equalize pressures, as do some of the fancier non-disposable earplugs. The author doesn't recommend the yellow EAR ones, or other tapered closed foam earplugs for freefall due to lack of same.

But I've never had a real problem when keeping the EAR ones in during freefall. Bigger ear canals perhaps. I find some of the more conical ear plugs don't seal very well at all unless jammed in tight.

And I avoid the really cheap, very squishy conical ones provided free at the Montreal tunnel -- way too easy to have those not seal and work their way out, and find yourself with a ringing ear after a tunnel session.

It's all a bit messy what is happening in freefall, trying to balance both the inner ear pressure (through the Eustachian tube), and the outer ear pressure (past any ear plug).

[PiLFy 0]

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Having never worn earplugs in freefall myself, I'm curious to know how they affect your ability to hear your audible alarms. I sometimes have trouble hearing them now. Will earplugs make it easier or more difficult?

I don't use an Audible. Good Audibles come w/adjustable volumes, though. So, I imagine you could turn them up, no? It would be different for me. Especially on my bad ear side. I'm hypersensitive to noise. I'd hear an Audible, no problem.